Search results for ""Author Richard Humphreys""

Each year between 1819 and 1825, John Constable (1776-1837) submitted a monumental canvas to the Royal Academy of Arts in London for display in the annual Exhibition. These so-called six-footers vividly captured the life of the River Stour in Suffolk, where Constable grew up and where he returned to paint each year. The Leaping Horse, the last of these, now a major work in the Academy's collection, is the subject of this fascinating new book. Humphreys explores Constable's often avant-garde working methods, as well as his struggle to gain full acceptance within the art establishment of the early nineteenth century. With reproductions of his full-scale preliminary sketches as well as brand new photography of the painting itself, this book is the ideal companion for art lovers who seek a deeper appreciation of Constable's iconic depictions of the English countryside.

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The Tate Britain Companion to British Art draws on Tate Britain's unrivalled collection to provide a lively, orginal and informative introduction to the story of art in Britain over the last five hundred years. Considering themes such as fashion, eating, childhood, occultism, science, empire, religion and Postmodernism, Richard Humphreys examines works by all the major artists, both in their own right and placed in broader contexts to convey their full richness and beauty. The cast of characters includes great historical figures such as Holbein, Van Dyck, Hogarth, Blake, Constable, Turner, Rossetti and Sargent; modern masters, and mistresses, such as Gwen John, Stanley Spencer, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Francis Bacon; and leading contemporary artists from David Hockney, Peter Blake and Lucian Freud to Gilbert and George, Damien Hirst and Rachel Whiteread. Beginning in Tate Britain's legendary restaurant and the strangely familiar land of Epicurania, the book offers a varied menu of treats, including Sir Thomas More and his monkey, Cromwellian art-smasher William Dowsing, gay connoisseur and spy Baron von Stosch, soft pornographer-vicar Matthew Peters, sheep farmer and pioneer photographer Samuel Butler, Simpkin the cat, a metaphysical garden or two, Robby the Robot, James Bond, and an exploding garden shed.

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‘One of the finest memoirs published in recent years.’ Dan Jones ‘An utterly fascinating and wonderfully detailed insight into the hidden world of the modern submarine.’ James Holland A candid, visceral, and incredibly entertaining account of what it’s like to live in one of the most extreme environments in the world. Imagine a world without natural light, where you can barely stand up straight for fear of knocking your head, where you have no idea of where in the world you are or what time of day it is, where you sleep in a coffin-sized bunk and sometimes eat a full roast for breakfast. Now imagine sharing that world with 140 other sweaty bodies, crammed into a 430ft x 33ft steel tube, 300ft underwater, for up to 90 days at a time, with no possibility of escape. And to top it off, a sizeable chunk of your living space is taken up by the most formidably destructive nuclear weapons history has ever known. This is the world of the submariner. This is life under pressure. As a restless and adventurous 18-year-old, Richard Humphreys joined the submarine service in 1985 and went on to serve aboard the nuclear deterrent for five years at the end of the Cold War. Nothing could have prepared him for life beneath the waves. Aside from the claustrophobia and disorientation, there were the prolonged periods of boredom, the constant dread of discovery by the Soviets, and the smorgasbord of rank odours that only a group of poorly-washed and flatulent submariners can unleash. But even in this most pressurised of environments, the consolations were unique: where else could you sit peacefully for hours listening to whale song, or… Based on first-hand experience, Under Pressure is the candid, visceral and incredibly entertaining account of what it’s like to live, work, sleep, eat – and stay sane – in one of the most extreme man-made environments on the planet.

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The work that launched the picturesque movement and changed our ways of looking at landscape forever. A witty, elegant, opinionated pilgrimage of taste. Complete with 17 aquatints drawn by William Gilpin as examples of perfected landscape. Introduced by Richard Humphreys, who was Curator of Programme Research at Tate Britain and lead curator of their A Picture of Britain exhibition.

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